Private payrolls are falling for the first time since April
Private payrolls contracted in December for the first time since April, according to CNBC’s Jeff Cox.
The number of jobs fell 123,000 during the month, a sharp drop compared to the 60,000 economists gaining employment. The domestic labor market had been in the process of being repaired following widespread business shutdowns in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
–Sara Salines
The EU approves Moderna’s vaccine
Dave Lacknauth, pharmacist. D., Director of Pharmacy Services, Broward Health Medical Center, shows a bottle of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine during a press conference on December 23, 2020 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
European Union health regulators approved the Modern Covid vaccine for use in the block of 27 countries. It is the second drug of its kind to receive approval from the European Medicines Agency, according to Silvia Amaro, of CNBC.
The green light could help boost the deployment of vaccines in Europe, which has been criticized for a slow pace and occasional disadvantages.
The Moderna vaccine was previously approved in the United Kingdom and the United States, where it is currently being distributed and administered. The vaccine, similar to Pfizer, is a two-dose regimen and was shown to be 94% effective in clinical trials.
-Sara Salines
The Covid variant found in South Africa worries experts
A new strain of the virus that has emerged in South Africa is worrying. Similar to a variant that has been discovered in the UK in recent months, the strain that has emerged in South Africa is proving to be much more transmissible.
So far, scientists do not believe that either variant is more deadly. But being more transmissible means more people can become infected and, as a result, can lead to more serious and more deadly infections.
Questions are now being raised as to whether coronavirus vaccines developed at breakneck speed in the last year will be effective against significant mutations in the virus, such as the one identified in South Africa. CNBC analyzes what we know (and what doesn’t) about this new strain.
–Holly Ellyatt